Fishing lure design with Dave Killalea

Looking at the wall of lures in every tackle shop, I can’t help but think fishing lures catch more anglers than fish.

In the right hands however, fishing lures are a very effective angling tool.

I personally mostly fish with lures these days as my bung knee plays up when I run down the beach catching live bait. Getting old sux.

Plus the prevalence of sharks makes it so hard to keep live baits in the water.

I’m actually a little paranoid about doing anything to attract sharks as there are so many inshore these days and it breaks my heart to have a big fish on, with intention of catch and release, only to have her monstered by a big shark at the boat.

Or watching as my hard caught livies get smashed up by schools of small sharks.

So… faced with a wall of fishing lures, how does average Joe know which lure to choose?

I guess that’s not such an easy question to answer and why I created our online fishing courses.

Because it’s more about matching the lure to fish behaviour – rather than blindly choosing a lure that says “barra lure” on the packet and expecting to catch a barra.

Fish do different things at different times, and if they are hungry or excited, you can catch them on any lure you place in front of them!

Matching your lure to a fishes behaviour is the key.

Barra will readily eat a cod lure or a mackerel lure – if you run it past their head and vice versa.

How do you choose a lure for a certain application, rather than a species of fish?

Well we asked Dave Killalea –  Master lure craftsman and Australian lure making royalty that very question.

Watch the video below as Dave talks about lure design, matching the hatch, lure size, action, depth, bib size, and how all these variables interact to create a lure for a specific application.

Dave Killalea has been designing and creating lures for specific applications for 30 years.

I have personally worked with Dave to create barra lures and his designs were responsible for my 1st metre plus saltwater barra and also my 2000th. And plenty in between!

To celebrate our long association, we have joined forces to create a collectors edition lure and shirt pack – both signed by myself and Dave. The lure is identical to the one I caught the 2000th metre plus saltwater barra on, including my own personalised “racing stripes”.

There will only be 100 of these signed commemorative packs for sale.

They will be available at Dave’s lure shop until sold out.

Unsigned version (ones you’d actually use to catch fish) available on the link below.